


The One Where The Hales Adopt Isaac

by KingKovic



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-10
Packaged: 2017-11-20 00:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingKovic/pseuds/KingKovic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Hale fire never happened and Derek is a mechanic at the local garage where he sees something (concerning Isaac Lahey) that he doesn't like. Through a course of events, the Hale family gets one new addition.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the awesome PadaWinBaby. 
> 
> If you're interested, chapters might/will go up on my tumblr first (littleredalpha.tumblr.com) so feel free to follow or just pop over to ask questions :) 
> 
> Everything belongs to who they belong to blah blah blah.

Derek was pulling a busted alternator out of the sheriff’s personal vehicle when he saw it. To anyone else, it would have just looked like the boy had bumped into his father a little too hard and stumbled back. To Derek, who was far more observant than your average human, it was a father getting annoyed with how close to him his son walked and shoving the boy back. The teen stumbled backward and landed hard on his ass in the gravel. Derek growled low in his throat at the sight. It wasn’t normal how terrified the boy looked and how angry the father looked and Derek didn’t like it.

            When Laura met him for dinner, she could tell he was angry about something but he only shook his head when questioned about it. “Something strange happened at work… I need to wait before assuming something,” he told her. She just shook her head and didn’t press him further.                                                                                                                                          

 

A week later, the father and son were back and Derek noticed that the boy visibly flinched away from his father. The sheriff’s son was checking up on his father’s car and didn’t notice the boy’s flinch. “Stiles,” Derek muttered, leaning over the car. “Who is that kid?”  
            Stiles blinked and looked around. “Oh. That’s Isaac Lahey. He’s on the lacrosse team with Scott and I. Why?” he asked, leaning forward, obviously interested in anything that could catch Derek’s interest.  
             “I was just wondering,” he said, looking up at Stiles. “And shouldn’t you be getting to school?” He shooed him away, snorting to himself when Stiles jumped away, looking slightly offended. Derek kept the Laheys in his peripheral vision, counting how many times the boy flinched. By the time they left, Isaac had flinched away from his father a good 15 times.

 

The next time Derek saw Isaac, he was bringing his father’s car back in, alone this time. He didn’t make eye contact and he jumped whenever Derek made a sudden movement. He left before Derek could ask him about his dad. They ran into each other again at the store while Derek was picking up some juice boxes for his little brother Lance’s lunch. The boy had one hell of a shiner on his left eye and it boiled Derek’s blood to know that it didn’t come from lacrosse. He left before Isaac did, storming out of the store with the force of a gale.

The next day, the sheriff came to pick up his car. “You did a great job, Derek. As always,” he said, clapping Derek on the back. Derek grinned.

“Thanks Sheriff,” he said, wiping his hands on a rag before shaking the sheriff’s hand. “By the way, could you do me a favor? Could you check on the Laheys? I saw Isaac here a few times and something didn’t seem right between him and his dad, if you get what I mean.” The sheriff frowned and nodded. “I’m fairly sure I remember sending someone out there at some point, but I can go over there myself tonight,” he said. Derek nodded. “I’d appreciate it,” he said.

             Later that night, Derek was playing with Lance when his phone went off. “Derek, what did you do?” Stiles hissed over the line. “What do you mean? I didn’t do anything,” Derek replied. He settled the phone between his ear and his shoulder and patted Lance’s shoulder, gesturing for him to go upstairs and get ready for bed.  
            “Isaac Lahey is at my house. Dad went down to his house to check on something and found him locked in a freezer. I feel like you’re involved in this,” he said.  
            Derek snorted. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I have to get my brother to bed. Goodnight, Stiles,” he said, cutting Stiles off  mid-sentence. He set his phone on the table, sighing heavily. Isaac was safe; that was one less thing to worry about.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still beta'd by the still (and always fantastic) PadaWinBaby.

            The next morning, Derek took Lance over to Stiles’ place to see Isaac. He got the boy fed, dressed, and out the door in record time, though it scared the hell out of him that his little brother could eat and keep talking, never seeming to take a breath. He found himself feeling out of breath in sympathy.

The Sheriff’s cruiser wasn’t in the driveway when Derek pulled up, parking next to the big blue monstrosity Stiles called a Jeep. Lance was already halfway out of his booster seat when Derek came around the side of the car; the kid was getting to be too smart for his own good. He could swear to God that the moment his little brother’s sneakers touched the cement, he was at the door, banging on the doorbell as if the number of times you rang the thing determined how quickly the door opened.

Stiles was somewhere between startled and amused when he answered the door, rocking back a step when Lance shot in the door under his arm. “Hey Derek,” he said, smiling at the taller man. “What’s Lance doing here? You babysitting?”

Derek smiled slightly. “Something like that. I wanted to come by and see how Isaac was doing, and Lance insisted on tagging along,” he said, stepping in the door. Stiles lingered by the door a moment, closing it behind Derek. “Where is he, anyway?”

Stiles gestured at the living room, and they both turned in that direction. When they got in there, Derek snorted, amused. Lance was sitting on the couch next to Isaac, practically in the teen’s lap, shooting rapid-fire questions at him. Isaac seemed pleased at the attention, lips slightly upturned as he calmly answered each of Lance’s questions.

The longer the two interacted, the more Derek noticed that the tension in Isaac’s body bled away. It seemed the unconditional acceptance of the tiny six-year-old was good for him. “Looks like Lance made a friend,” Stiles commented, coming to lean against the arm of the chair Derek had claimed. Derek just grinned.

It was at that moment that Lance noticed that there were other people in the room. “Derek! Can we keep him? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?” he begged, clinging to the teen as if he were afraid that Isaac would be taken away. Derek smiled indulgently at his brother. “Only if the Sheriff says it’s okay,” he said in a tone that implied that the Sheriff would have no problem with it. Lance squealed and bounced, listing off games he and Isaac could play when they got home.

 

 

Thankfully, there was a decent amount of trust built between the Sheriff and the Hale family, though a little bit of pleading from Lance didn’t hurt, which was how Isaac ended up in Derek’s car. Lance was a bouncy, jabbering whirlwind of energy, so excited that Derek could barely wrangle him into his booster seat for the ride home. Isaac looked a little overwhlemed, but Lance’s excitement was nothing if not infectious. IT warmed Derek’s heart to see the secret little smile that Isaac was trying to hide.

Lance tore into the house the moment Derek released him from his booster seat, bouncing on the balls of his feet just inside the door, clearly waiting for his new favorite person to catch up. Laura came out of the kitchen as Derek was ushering Isaac inside.

“Cute kid. What’s his name?” she asked, looking the teen over.

“Isaac,” all three of them said at the same time, which made Laura smile.

“Laura, this is Isaac,” Derek said, introducing his sister to him. “He was staying with Stiles and Lance got attached, so they’re letting him stay with us.” He gave her a look that clearly said there was more to the story, and they would discuss it later.

Laura smiled at the curly-haired boy. “Nice to meet you, Isaac,” she said, taking his hand gently. “Lance, why don’t you go pick something for you and your new friend for lunch?” Lance tore off into the kitchen, dragging Isaac behind him.

“He looks sort of scared, underneath the pleasure at Lance’s attention,” Laura said quietly once Whirlwind Lance and company were out of earshot. Derek nodded solemnly. “He probably is, a little,” he told her. “He has reason to be.”

Derek told his sister the abbreviated version of Isaac’s story, watching the concern build in her face. By the time he got to them picking him up, he could tell that Lance wasn’t Isaac’s only new friend. He may just have found a champion in Laura.

“I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say Lance has Isaac’s time booked pretty solid for the next month,” she said, smiling. They could both hear the clattering in the kitchen, Lance obviously trying to help Isaac make whatever it was he’d picked. Derek chucked and nodded. “Pretty much,” he admitted. “Though Isaac doesn’t seem to be complaining.”

When they stepped through into the kitchen, it was to see that Isaac had Lance pretty well calmed down and situated at the kitchen table, legs kicking happily as he chowed down on a very messy PB&J. The little boy grinned at them and waved with a jelly-sticky hand. “We made peanut butter and jelly!” he said. “I helped!” Isaac smiled shyly in their direction, eyes downcast.

“I can see that,” Derek said, smiling at his brother. Laura grabbed a paper towel and went over to clean their brother up a bit.

“He’s adorable,” Isaac said quietly. Lance grinned at him, a piece of sandwich poking out between his teeth.

“He likes you a lot, too,” Derek said. “The first time he met Stiles, he hid behind my knees until he left.”

“Stiles can be kind of overwhelming,” Laura said, smirking secretively at Derek. Isaac nodded, smiling to himself.

When he was done with his sandwich, Lance climbed off of his chair and tugged at Isaac’s arm. “Let’s go play army men!” he insisted. Isaac followed him up the stairs and out of sight.

“I like him,” Laura said, cleaning up the jelly mess Lance had left in his wake. “Were you thinking about…?” She turned her eyes on Derek.

He shook his head in dissent. “I was going to wait and see what Dad says, since he’s the one who’d have to do it,” he replied, hopping up onto the counter. “Sheriff Stilinski said he can stay here until Child Services decides what to do with him.”

“Somehow, I don’t see Lance letting him go,” Laura said, leaning on the counter and grinning. “Looks like the Hale pack just gained a member, whether we turn him or not.”

Derek huffed a laugh. “God I hope so, for Isaac’s sake at the very least,” he said.


End file.
